Oblivion Remasteredis a welcome sight for any Elder Scrolls fan, but it’s an especially appealing prospect for those of us who have always cherished the fourth mainline entry’s faction selections above the rest. That’s not to say that Morrowind and Skyrim don’t have their own winners; we don’t think any Elder Scrolls faction questline is terrible. But Oblivion’s have always been a cut above.
Naturally, a site like ours can’t resist the urge to rank ‘em. We’ve thought long and hard, and come to the conclusion that Oblivion Remastered’s five factions belong in the following order. Well, we say “belong”, but you’re obviously welcome to disagree in full!
When most folks think factions, their brains are on the major ones. The big five. We’re not including the Blades, the Knights of the Nine, those sorts. And certainly not the temporary bits. These are all well and fun, but we reckon most readers are more keen on our thoughts regarding the ones with full-blown mini-campaigns of their own. Suffice it to say, the rest would rank beneath these five!
5Arena
It’s not that the Arena faction is bad. The Imperial City goes hard into the Roman vibes, especially during its heyday as an empire. The Third Empire itself borrows obvious cues. Having a fight-to-the-death coliseum questline is rad, and really, the writers make the most of it.
It’s just that, in our view, even making the most of this setting invites certain limitations that are on full display here. The in-and-out, pits-to-fights, quick-turnaround nature of the Arena faction makes it harder to get invested. The fact that most of its key characters aren’t terribly inspired certainly doesn’t help.
There is one clear exception to the above assessment: Agronak gro-Malog. While there’s no opportunity to get particularlyclosewith the guy, his personal quest of self-discovery is a standout example of Oblivion’s ability to upend expectations.
He’s correct about his birthright, but that unforeseen little twist - OK, not so little! - gets him downright ready to end it all. The ensuing match between the protagonist and the Grey Prince is tinged with bittersweetness. In a franchise that frequently prides itself on providing a power fantasy to its players, we always welcome these more pyrrhic victories.
4Fighters Guild
Due apologies if it seems like we’re knives-out for Oblivion’s more sword-and-board factions here. It’s not like you can’t take more magical, or subtle, approaches to the Arena and/or the Fighters Guild! But these two are the tough-it-up, take-the-blows, questlines thematically, and while we like them, they’re hardly stellar.
The Fighters Guild questline has its moments. The saga against the Blackwood Company is pretty great! The finale quest, ‘The Hist’, is suitably epic stuff. An epic battle against a rival faction. Some excellent lore revolving around the titular Hist Tree itself. Oh, and then youdestroythe tree, which is strangely satisfying.
The rhythm of the Fighters Guild’s quests involves accepting missions from three chapterhouse leaders at regular intervals. To be honest, we grow tired of the cave quests, as Oblivion’s dungeons aren’t exactly its strong suit. But you’ve got to take the good with the mediocre!
3Thieves Guild
We’re already moving past “solid” territory, and into “downright good”, with the Thieves Guild. Alas, two things hold this questline back from full-blown greatness. First, needing to fence specific amounts of stolen property between quests is, while thematically appropriate, a bit of a slog. It puts you into the mind of a thief to an admirable degree, but it’s just not especially fun.
We kind of want to get into the weeds a bit more here. It’s not that stealing items is a bad thing. If you’re role-playing a real-deal thief, you’re likely to do so rather often, anyway. It’s just that, as a barrier mechanic between missions, well, we’ve seen better, you know?
The other issue is that there just aren’t as many Thieves Guild quests as can be found in the non-Arena factions. But we ranked the Thieves Guild faction third for Oblivion Remastered for a reason, so enough with the negatives!
There are few more satisfying things in The Elder Scrolls than being rewarded for remaining undetected. Sneaky sorts will have a field day in the Thieves Guild, but if you’d rather go in swords-and-sorcery-blazing, that’s still doable. But the real appeal rests in quiet traipsing in a bid for illusive grand theft.
2Mages Guild
The Mages Guild iscool. Not only is it highly advisable to join them ASAP in order to access many of Oblivion’s best spells (and to, eventually, be able to forge your own!), but the main questline is an intriguing battle against necromancy and its nefarious King of Worms.
The fight with Mannimarco is one of the game’s narrative highlights, and it’s a great clash in gameplay terms, too. Yet, before any of this comes to the forefront, players must traverse Cyrodiil, earning the favour of each Mages Guild chapterhouse’s individual leaders. Only then are you permitted entry into the Imperial City’s austere Arcane University, which is when the Mages Guild plot goes into high gear.
To be clear, this isn’t a raw deal. Most of these early quests are fun in their own right. Even the silly ones - here’s looking at you, Bruma’s little pranksters - offer delightful levity. All told, then, following along with the Mages Guild faction is both pragmatic and consistently engaging. We can’t ask for more.
1Dark Brotherhood
Or can we? If any of you out there actually dislike Oblivion’s Dark Brotherhood faction, you might be rolling your eyes at yet another praise-singing rant. We reckon most among you are at least fond of the Dark Brotherhood, however, and we’ll hardly be alone in ranking it first. No matter where your opinions land, surely, you’ll not be surprised by our pick.
For starters, the Dark Brotherhood offers a mostly fantastic cast. Lucien Lachance is the obvious draw, but he’s by no means solitary. Antoinette, Ocheeva, M’raaj-Dar, Telaendril, Vicente - the hits don’t stop coming. Bethesda injected distinct and captivating flavour into each of their scripts, even when many don’t get a ton of unique story to chew on. It doesn’t matter. They have stage presence in spades.
The Dark Brotherhood questline also provides some of Oblivion’s biggest surprises. We’re going to keep things vague here for those who have not yet experienced it firsthand, but one of the later quests for this faction shocked us the first time we played Oblivion, and we looked forward to (and sort of dreaded) experiencing it again in Oblivion Remastered.
To top it all off, the Dark Brotherhood takes our love of sneakiness with the Thieves Guild to the next level. You’re an assassin. You commit assassinations. For the most part, you’re incentivized to do so whilst treading softly, with great bonus objective rewards strewn throughout. Why fawn over the mysterious Gray Fox when you can stealthily launch a statue on to someone’s unsuspecting head as they recline in a chair?
Perhaps that’s the best thought to leave this list on. Oblivion’s factions offer the opportunity to drop heavy objects on heads in-between your sojourns to close shut the jaws of Oblivion. It is, as they say, peak.
